Columns

PIXIETIPS!
Life Should Be Easy

Photo by Clay McBrideMake your life easier with advice that embraces who you are. We take today's home & life advice and show you whether or not it will work for you. Every weekday.

PIGMENT
An Insider's Look at the World of Makeup

Funs are born knowing how to sieze the day and Rebecca Perkins, former head make-up artist for Law & Order SVU, current assistant make-up artist on Smash, amazing mom to one adorable baby boy and a Fun Freedom • SFP, gives you what she grabs with her insider's blog to the world of make up.

It's easy for an Organic Structure • NFJ to find meaning in their daily life, and Tracy Zalit Davidson's musings on the beautiful distraction that is life do just that. Ahh.

FIGS, BAY & WINE
The Easy Way to Eat Local

Leave it to a Smart Freedom • NTP to find the easy way to eat local. A gifted writer and trained chef, Amanda Darrach Filippone embraces simple, unadorned cooking with delicious results.

SHARKS IN POOLS
A Guide for the Charmingly Insane

Follow a Classic Freedom • SFJ as she wades through the real and imaginary stresses of starting a business while raising a family. Can you really be eaten by a shark in a pool? Find out every Monday. 

THE LOUSY HOUSEWIFE
Do Less and Be Okay

Declutter, get organized and lose weight with an Organic Freedom • NFP who finds herself doing anything besides cleaning, exercise, or not eating cookies.

PIXIEDISH!
Video Gossip with Katie & Kelly

Every week OR SO....watch a quick video of Katie & Kelly gossiping about current events and other fun cocktail party topics.

What Are PixieTips?

PixieTips use Myers-Briggs personality type theory to show you how today's home & life advice will work for your PixieType.

 

Whether it's a quick recipe, a cool service, or some sage advice — we explain who the tip will work best for, how it will work for the rest of us, and why it might be helpful for you.

Our Sponsors

Like us! Oh please like us...

Classics • "Traditional, Organized" • SJ

SJ • Guardian

Courteney Cox Arquette as CLASSIC STRUCTURE Monica Geller Bing, "Friends"Katherine Heigl as CLASSIC FREEDOM Jane, "27 Dresses"Tom Hanks as CLASSIC FREEDOM Capt. John H. Miller, "Saving Private Ryan"

 

 

 

 

 

When it comes to home and life issues, you guys probably have the easiest time running a home — your lives — and generally getting things done. You were born with the skills needed to run a tight ship no matter what the ship. The only things you tend to have trouble with is the big picture skills needed for the grand scheme of things — designing furniture layouts, picture hanging, etc. What's easiest for you is being on time; what's hardest is interior design.

If any of this sounds eerily familiar then you are probably Classic. Read on to see if you are the more more logical Classic Structure or more subjective Classic Freedom.

  • Classic Structure • STJ

    CLASSIC STRUCTUREs (STJs) are logical decision makers, who believe in fairness and tend to be traditional as well as practical and trustworthy. You can often be bored by abstract ideas as you're more interested in real things. You are also efficient and get things done. People who don’t pull their faire share of the workload frustrate you. Your analytical mind is naturally critical so you've perhaps been accused of being judgemental in your life but it’s not personal. You likely believe you're just observing a fact.

    How does this play out in the home arena? You like things to to be very neat, tidy, & clean — it's difficult to understand how others can live any other way. You are usually practical and thrifty, sometimes at the expense of beauty & visual design especially if you're on a tight budget and you're a man — it sounds sexist but it's a recurring observation. We know one CLASSIC STRUCTURE (STJ) — male — who used cardboard boxes to create black out shades in his million-dollar Princeton NJ home rather than buy new, more functional, attractive ones. You are also the world’s jerry riggers. Inventing ingenious solutions to problems that have already been solved. CLASSIC STRUCTURES (STJ) make up about 19-25% of the American population.

    EXTROVERTED CLASSIC STRUCTUREs (ESTJs) tend to have the above characteristics but are also outgoing, friendly and easy to get to know. 12-15% of the American population.

    INTROVERTED CLASSIC STRUCTUREs (ISTJs) tend to have the above characteristics but are also private by nature, calm and sometimes reserved. 7-10% of the American population.

  • Classic Freedom • SFJ

    CLASSIC FREEDOMs (SFJs) are practical and thrifty like CLASSIC STRUCTUREs (STJs) but are more easily swayed for both beauty & visual design — guys AND gals. They like to get things done and feel better after things are settled. They base decisions on past personal experiences or those of someone they trust — sometimes it's logical, sometimes it's more subjective. Often described as conscientious, kind and warmhearted — they are compassionate and as a result strive to maintain harmonious relationships.

    It is the capacity to feel for others that is their achilles heel in the home and life arena. They are so good at organizing and getting things done that they are asked to organize committees, take care of last minute details, and they invariably say yes till they are physically exhausted. Like CLASSIC STRUCTUREs (STJs) they like their homes neat, clean & tidy but often can be softer around the edges in creating this environment. They make up about 18-24% of the American population.

    EXTROVERTED CLASSIC FREEDOMs (ESFJs) tend to have the above characteristics but are also outgoing, friendly and easy to get to know. 11-14% of the American population.

    INTROVERTED CLASSIC FREEDOMs (ISFJs) tend to have the above characteristics but also can be modest, sometimes quiet, and are often devoted to their friends. 7-10% of the American population.